All the While
by Gentryfey
Summary: Daniel and Betty share a comforting moment while at the office.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I have no ownership or hold over any of the characters of Ugly Betty

All the While

Daniel glanced up from the ever so riveting copy list of "The Ten Top Designers of 2008" and sighed for the 12th time in 15minutes. Not that he was counting. And for the 15th time in 15minutes his distracted gaze slid over to where his assistant sat. Outside his office. Much too far away in his opinion. He watched openly as she scribbled quickly all the while nodding as she listened to whoever was talking to her on the phone. She had a slight frown between her eyes. He perked up for a second, hoping whatever was causing the frown for her would soon lead to him to be on the receiving end of it. Hopefully. His first real smile of the day started as she finally, not quite, slammed the phone down, frowned at her notes and then shot a glare thru the fishbowl glass window at him. He grinned wider.

She then stood, took a breath, smoothed down the non-existent wrinkles on her woollen pleat skirt and started marching. Towards him. The best part of his day was beginning!

Betty sighed. Her ears were still ringing. The last think she felt like doing was going to and confronting Daniel with the latest rumour mill. She Really Really didn't want to spend the rest of the afternoon and likely a good portion of her evening sorting out his personal problems, again. He had been working so well all day. Not disturbing her at all with inane requests. In fact he'd been hard at work trying to sort out next issues "Top Ten" whatever. She really was loathe to disturb him. Her mind battled momentarily. Sighing again her good side won and she stood. Preparing herself she marched towards the door and the man that was beyond.

Daniel quickly cast his eyes down and shuffled some paper around his desk as Betty appeared in the doorway. He looked up questioningly as her voice rang thru the room towards him.

"Are you busy"? She looked hopeful. He glanced down smothering a grin then back up. She still looked hopeful. Hmmm couldn't be good then.

"Nope. Just finished actually." He shut the file and leaned back crossing his hands over his stomach. A grimace crossed her face momentarily and his eyes glinted with a repressed smile.

"Have a seat. Something come up?" She moved slowly into the room, finally coming to a halt before his desk. she dropped heavily into a chair.

"In a manner of speaking." She was clutching a folded piece of paper and gnawing on her bottom lip.

"Spill it Betty. What's wrong?" Narrowed eyes and a lifted head greeted the question.

"Nothing's wrong..."

"There has to be. You're all fidgety."

"Hmph" She straightened and glared, "I don't fidget."

"Yes, you do. No, don't argue. You're wringing that poor piece of paper like you were wishing it was Amandas neck. And you're biting your lip." Wide eyes stared at him. Her mouth opened, closed. Then she sat back in her chair arms crossed defiantly.

"Ok, so maybe there is something. And I know you're not going to like it at all." He let out a humourless chuckle, stood and slid his hands into pockets as he wandered over to stare out his window at the impressive view beyond.

"What else is new?" Dry and ironic the comment was mumbled, not intended to reach Betty's ears. It did.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself Daniel. It could be worse. And there are people out there with worse problems than yours you know!" She had straightened and was mentally preparing herself for a battle.

Daniel closed his eyes and rested his head on the cool glass. He should've known not to fall into self pity around his friend. She was known to just kick the legs out from underneath it and then haul you up kicking and screaming. why he kept trying he could never understand. But she was here with him, so why was he moping? Best to get whatever this was over with and move on.

"I know, I know sorry. So, what's the problem and how do we fix it?" He turned to face her. Smiled when he saw she was now standing, leaning against the front of his desk.

"There's no WE in this one mister. YOU"RE going to fix it." With that Betty held out the now more than crumpled paper. He moved over to her, parked his butt on the edge of the desk so they leaned side by side. Shoulder touching and hips brushing. He raised an eyebrow and she just shook her head, hair gliding over his arm. she handed the paper over and watched while he read.

He didn't like where this was heading at all.

The words gossip, Renee, fire and asylum jumped out from the paper, wrapped themselves around his neck and proceeded to squeeze out any ability to speak. Or breathe. He screwed his eyes shut as the words jumbled in front of him. High pitched buzzing screeched thru his ears and he wavered as he was knocked off kilter. His wound was too raw and someone had just shoved a dirty, infected bloody stick right into the middle of it. It was going to fester.

Betty stared, shocked as Daniel lost all colour and became a shade only common to paper. She watched as sweat beaded across the top of his forehead and gaped as the began to sway. So, being the practical, kind-hearted woman she was she took the most logical action known. She wrapped around Daniel both arms, drew his head to her shoulder and started rocking.

"It's ok Daniel. It's going to be alright. We'll work something out. There's nothing you could've done. She can't hurt you anymore. Shhh Daniel, it's ok. I'm still here." She started as his arms come up and clamped behind her back drawing her even closer. They were pressed together too uncomfortably so Daniel just dragged the warmth that was Betty, onto his lap and held on tight. He pressed his face into her neck and let the moisture pool there. He became aware of fingers running gently thru his hair and a calm voice whispering comforts.

Betty felt the moment Daniel began to relax and drew back enough to see his face. He tried to drop his eyes in embarrassment. How could he just lose control of himself like that! And at the office in full view of whoever cared to watch! Poor Betty, she must think he's a complete disappointment. Can't control his business. Can't control his life. Can't deal with the consequences. He began to shift and move her off when two hands released his back and gripped his face. Shocked his eyes shot to hers. Stating into them he couldn't see anything but concern and warmth. Thumbs tracked over his cheeks wiping away the offending tears. He dredged up a smile and let out a small laugh.

"I'm so sorry Betty"

"You have nothing to apologize for." She leaned towards him and placed a small kiss of his forehead. He closed his eyes savouring the tender affectionate gesture. And as it lingered a voice rang thru the office.

"I see I'm interrupting. Shall I come back?"

A/N: I've only seen the first season and half of the second so im not going to follow any real plot line so if things are a bit random don't freak ok. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I have no hold over the characters of Ugly Betty and mean them no harm

All the While

They both froze. Then Betty tried to shove and Daniel tried to push. He caught a glimpse of long lean legs by the door, as they tumbled to the floor in an ungainly heap.

"Oomph." Betty blinked up owlishly at her friend and boss who was sprawled on top of her. Daniel lay there for awhile trying to process then glanced down into his assistants gaze. Realizing her eyes were filling with pain he flustered and pushing with both arms either side of her head raised himself up till he was crouching over her, his legs straddling either side of her hips.

"Damn, Betty I'm sorry!" He grabbed both her hands and stepped back to pull her up. With a tug he had her up off the floor. When did she become so slight? was a passing thought before she once again was crushed up against his chest. His arms locked around her back keeping her from falling backwards, and slowly they managed to balance themselves once again, Daniel, leaning against his desk. He sighed quietly and gently pressed his face into her hair. She was the perfect height and fit in his arms just right. Whoa! Where did that come from? Quickly he dropped his arms and she was able to take a step back. They stood staring at each other, Betty straightening her clothes and glasses then smoothing her hair while Daniel played at putting his tie into place.

"Well, that had about as much finesse as two 14year olds groping at the movies." As they both whipped around to stare, Alexis sauntered even further into the room.

"You used to be so much smoother at seducing the assistants Danny. What happened? Your golden glove of love fall by the wayside?"

"Alexis! What the hell? We weren't...we tripped...!" For the first time in his whole philandering, womanising life, notorious playboy Daniel Meade wished he didn't have such a bad reputation. Although out of everyone Alexis was probably the best to catch them...hang on! They weren't doing anything worthy of being caught out! With righteous indignation firing in his eyes and superiority of knowing what was true he straightened and fixed an imperious stare at Alexis.

"What was it you needed?" His voice was cold and Alexis had to bite back a grin. Her baby brother had finally grown a pair. And he owed it all to that mousy little assistant. Unimaginable.

"I came to tell you Clint McLennan was still undecided about whether to do the photo shoot for the next layout. I've set up a client dinner tonight for you and Betty to charm him into finally accepting. He's bringing his apprentice."

Betty had been standing quietly trying her best to fade into the background and not bring Alexis' attention to her. Her mind was deliberately blank and she'd discovered the ceiling had 112 tiles. Hmmm that was very useful information, maybe she could calculate...

She jumped when her name was mentioned and both the Meade's pinned her in place with their icy blue gaze.

"Uhh, sorry what was that?" She squeaked a little and tried to shuffle towards the door.

Alexis was having none of it.

"Your dinner reservations have been made at Three Doors Up at 8.30 sharp. Dress nice and don't be late. We need this shoot." With that she flounced out the door. Betty let out a sigh and then sucked it in when she poked her head back in the door. She aimed a glare at Daniel, "And keep your hands in your pockets. Or you'll lose the one good thing you have going for you." She stalked off.

Betty horrified, looked sideways at Daniel. He looked much the same. Wait, did Betty look horrified because she was so disgusted at the thought of being with him? He mentally started to panic, what if she hated him? What if she never...his mental anguish was interrupted as Betty let out a wail.

"I'm so confused!!" Feeling for a chair behind her, she sunk down into it and put her head in her hands. "What the heck just happened?"

"I'm not quite sure. But I think we have a dinner date." Betty looked up sharply. Daniel was grinning, hands in pockets rocking back and forth.

"This isn't funny! She just walked in on whatever that was before," gesturing wildly at the desk, "And now she wants us to convince Clint McLennan! Clint McLennan to do the shoot! Tonight! I can't do it tonight! I have um, yoga! Yeah I have yoga class tonight. I can't miss it. Sorry you'll have to get someone else to help!"

Daniel watched as she went from confusion to full blown panic. She was cute when she panicked. He should make her do it more often. He started. That was random. He shook the moment off and walked over to Betty taking her shoulders and shaking a little to get her attention.

"Betty, Betty! Calm down. It's just a job. And it's part of your job as my assistant. Remember? We just did the exact same thing last week. And we totally rock as a team. The Darling Duo remember?"

"Yeah but tonight! I'm so not prepared!" Daniel laughed.

"That's so not true. You'll go back to your desk and spend the rest of your afternoon researching him. And then you'll woo him with your considerable charm tonight and then Alexis will love us forever."

"But I don't have a change of clothes."

"Betty. You're my assistant. You only have to dress like that. And wow, look at that! You're already dressed like an assistant. That's amazing. So, now all we have to do is get there! Problem solved." Daniel stood there a triumphant smile on his face, pleased as punch to have worked it all out to his advantage.

Betty wilted under the realisation that he truly believed they could do this. Giving in she nodded.

"Alright, alright. Smartarse. Put the baby blues away. They don't work on me by the way," She shook a finger at him and stepped back, "Now, getting back to the whole reason I came in. What do you want to do about this ridiculous gossip column?"

Daniel sighed. "We'll just have to ignore it. There's nothing to be done about it. I can't stop them printing it and trying to deny anything is just going to make it ten times worse. So, just tell them no comment. There's not point trying to face them head on."

Betty stared. "Wow Daniel. I think that's the most mature thing I've ever heard you say." With a wink and a quick step she was out the door and on her merry way. She decided the previous hour would be a deliberately distant past that she wasn't going to touch with a ten foot pole.

**A/N:** Thank-you for your reviews. It's the best part of writing, getting everyone's opinion.

The photographer mentioned is result of a very quick Google search so no harm is meant by the use of his name.

The Restaurant is a new one that's just opened in Napier, New Zealand and it's very nice.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I have no ownership or hold over any of the characters of Ugly Betty.

All the While

Daniel sat his desk mimicking his former pose of an hour ago. Flipping through random pages in files all the while, staring moodily through the window at Betty. Actually, now that he thought about it, he'd spent an enormous amount of time staring moodily lately. It was becoming a bad habit. But he couldn't help it. It had been a month and a half since Renee had tried to burn Betty to death. So maybe he had become a little bit obsessive/protective after that, but who could blame him? Renee had been charged with attempted murder. He didn't care what the gossip magazines wanted to print about him and his choice of partners. Betty was safe and _that_ truly mattered. He was sure that if anyone else's best friend had been attacked they'd be feeling the same way. Not that he's been hanging off Bettys skirts or anything. Maybe he'd taken to making sure he took her home to her doorstep at night and always made sure he knew where she was for lunch. He didn't think she'd noticed and she hadn't mentioned anything to him about it. He was still leaving her privacy. She might not have had a personal life but she loved spending all night every night with him at work.

He swivelled around in his chair and leaned back. He pictured Betty's face if she ever realised he had become her permanent shadow over the last month. But really, it was in his nature. He looked after the ones he cared about. He had too few of them to ever let one slip through his fingers. Maybe he didn't show it in his public image. But he had realised early on in a hard learnt lesson, that weakness would only be exploited. So, it was only when you got close enough you would realise his particular trait. He knew he developed emotional dependence but then again, maybe it was Betty that so drew that particular emotion out of him. He sighed. Time to go back and rehash some other thoughts. He generally tried to avoid all deep and insightful thought because they normally gave him a headache and truthfully, he didn't have them that often. Only in the past year it seems. He breathed in deeply and let it out in a rush. He was going to have to admit it to himself. He had a thing? A something? For Betty. Something that went beyond the involved friendship they shared. He depended on her, laughed with her, argued with her and shared loves and losses with her.

His mind jolted to one word even he wasn't ready to admit to. So, he ignored it and moved on.

They worked so closely together so how was it that she didn't pick up on any of his feelings? Was he that good at pretending? Maybe he was. After all he had pretended most of his life away and still did to an extent. But then, she was Betty. And he was Daniel Meade! Her expectations were purely work orientated, apart from the friendship they had built. He knew she appreciated what they shared but would never aspire to anything more. Again that was his fault. He had put up the barriers and now he was the only one trying to tear them down. Let's face it buddy, he dragged his finger over his face, you need her. So, the 100,000 dollar question is: What are you going to do about it?

Betty stared at her screensaver and sighed. What was she going to do about Daniel? He'd been acting so weird ever since Renee and she didn't know what to do! He had been the most unDaniel like in the last month than ever before. Even weirder than when he was on those 'special pills'. It was nice to know he cared but boy, was it getting annoying.

Groaning she whacked her forehead, now she sounded ungrateful! She had a wonderfully egocentric boss, who was starting to worm his way into her heart and she should be happy. He'd had two majorly failed relationships in the past year, so it wasn't really any surprise he was clinging to any semblance of normalcy. He didn't deal well with rejection and at the moment his haven was Mode and his assistant. He'd thrown himself into his work and had progressed so much. It was a pleasure to work with him now and to see him focus. She really enjoyed the change of attitude. They had been spending extra hours together after work, making sure the layouts were perfect, the articles were informative and edited correctly and that the photo shoots were placed well and were lifelike. During those times when it was just them, he had started to reveal more of himself. Slowly but surely she was chipping into the barriers he had around his heart since childhood.

His low self-esteem had become evident, shocking her. Maybe they were more similar that she had realised. She'd never pictured herself thinking that. Her and Daniel Meade similar! Crazy talk! Although, one of the first traits that had become apparent was his overwhelming protectiveness of the ones he lov…hmmm liked. And his willingness to do anything - anything at all to help them. She thought back to his cold stare and even chillier voice when he had addressed Alexis. He had been in protective mode. She smiled slightly, Papa Grizzly. He hated the nickname. Maybe she'd start addressing all his messages to that.

So, he was protective. So was she. Especially of her family. And how many times had she stuck up for Daniel, Christina and even Marc or Amanda to a degree? So she couldn't really complain about it. Because Daniel was generous. He showed his true appreciation by giving what help he could. She thought of all the long rides home on the subway she'd avoided, by Daniels insistence on having her driven home. Or the meals provided at late night sessions. She tapped her finger over her computer mouse in frustration. Ok, so Daniel had his good side but he was also…also. She dropped her head in defeat. He was Daniel Meade. And she was just Betty. And she was definitely trying to read into things too much. He was only being overprotective because he didn't want to lose a good assistant and his only loyal ally at Mode. That was is. No hidden signals or hidden meanings. He knew she was still upset over Henry leaving. She paused there.

Was she _really_ upset about Henry leaving? Honestly? She lifted her hand to swipe at her hair. She pulled a band out of her top drawer and for the first time, drew her hair back into a simple ponytail and fixed it at her nape. So, was she? She slowly shook her head, forcing herself to admit it. No. She wasn't upset. Oh Boy. Did that make her a crummy ex-girlfriend? No! She stiffened her spine. She had no need to feel upset anymore. He was gone and it was time to move on! Daniel would eventually sort himself out, so until then she would just focus on getting her job done and enjoy their unique friendship. Plus, there was always Gio, _if_ Hilda and Amanda were to be believed. That decided she gave a decisive nod and turning to her computer opened the companies files on one Clint McLennan.

A/N: Thank you for the kind and helpful reviews. I really enjoyed reading what you thought.

And again: Clint McLennan I pulled off Google, so no harm is intended by use of his name.


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